From Compliance to Catalyst: Why Skills Development Must Become One of Corporate South Africa’s Most Powerful Growth Strategies

Opinion by Anton Visser, Group COO at SA Business School

Skills development should never be reduced to a paperwork exercise or a narrow compliance obligation. Yes, it has a place on the B-BBEE scorecard. Yes, it contributes points. But if that is where the conversation begins and ends, we have missed the true power of what skills development can do.

At its best, skills development is one of the most practical and profound socio-economic levers available to corporate South Africa. It creates jobs. It builds confidence. It develops workplace capability. It transforms societies. It opens doors for young people who would otherwise remain locked out of the economy. And in doing so, it changes not only individual lives, but families, communities and futures.

Recent data on South Africa’s dependency ratio shows that the average employee supports up to four additional people. That means every learner who successfully completes a learnership and moves into permanent employment does not only change one life. They change five. That is why skills development matters.

From compliance to catalyst

Every learnership that leads to sustainable employment represents far more than a training outcome. It represents a young person gaining practical skills, workplace experience, nationally recognised qualifications and the soft skills needed to enter the economy with dignity and purpose. It is often the difference between stagnation and momentum, between exclusion and participation, between surviving and building a future.

At SA Business School, we see this impact every day. In 2025 alone, we enrolled 1 317 new learners. Of these, 283 were on skills programmes, 675 were hosted disabled learners, and 359 were on employed learnerships, all sponsored by corporate South African businesses. With a completion rate of 95% and an absorption rate of 85%, the outcome is clear: these programmes are delivering real value, both for learners and for the employers who invest in them.

Most importantly, 1 120 learners have already stepped into permanent employment and career growth within corporate South Africa. Within SA Business School and our wider Alefbet Group of businesses, including iContact BPO, Shapiro Shaik Defries & Associates and ITCBA, 130 learners moved into permanent roles. In the six-month period between August 2025 and February 2026, a further 211 learners who successfully completed their learnerships were absorbed into permanent jobs. That is measurable, meaningful change.

It also tells us something important about the economy and where demand for skills is strongest.

Of the learners absorbed into jobs in the last six months, 58% were taken up by manufacturing and industrial clients. The technology, IT and telecoms sector accounted for 15%, while professional services absorbed 10%. Financial services and property each accounted for 4%, logistics and supply chain 3%, and food/FMCG and mining/resources 2% each.

The learnerships in greatest demand continue to be Contact Centre (NQF 2 and 4) and Business Administration (NQF 2). Significantly, hosted disabled learners accounted for 52% of all learners taking up these programmes, underlining the critical role of learnerships in building a more inclusive workforce and expanding access to economic participation.

Skills programmes, meanwhile, made up 21% of all learners in 2025, with the most in-demand areas including Work Readiness, Employability Programmes, Team Management, Conflict Management and Customer Service. These are not “nice to have” interventions. They help learners become job-ready faster, while helping organisations build stronger, more resilient and more capable teams.

We are proud to see many of our former learners now thriving in roles spanning management and team leadership, business development, HR, reception and sales. Their success is proof that the right learning and development ecosystem works. When committed corporate sponsors, an experienced training partner and determined young South Africans come together, the results can be extraordinary.

SA Business School is privileged to partner with more than 100 corporate clients, including 15 JSE-listed businesses, with 54 new corporate clients onboarded in 2025 alone. Our client retention rate of 92% reflects the value organisations are seeing in skills development that is aligned not only to compliance, but to business growth, workforce readiness and long-term impact.

Move skills development out of the margins of compliance and into the centre of strategy

Learning and development should be treated as a competitive advantage. It should be viewed as a talent pipeline strategy, an inclusion strategy, a future workforce strategy and a nation-building strategy. It should be recognised for what it truly is: a pathway from unemployment to opportunity, from despair to dignity, from wasted potential to productive contribution.

The challenge before us is not whether skills development matters. It does. The real question is whether more businesses are prepared to embrace its full potential.

South Africa does not lack potential. What it needs is more businesses willing to invest in unlocking it. That is how we change lives. That is how we strengthen businesses. And that is how we build an economy that works for more people.

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Author: Thuli Sikhosana from TS Communications on behalf of SA Business School.

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